I feel you to some degree Vormotus in regards to your comment on legalism. It's honestly not that new I think.
I think sin is something that "hurts" us. In a spiritual sense. I've thought a fair bit about it, considering myself as a sinful abomination in God's eyes.
However there's a lot of room for translation and interpretation of sin, and God, and God's plan. It's not a binary construct. Sin is analog. Analogue. It's meant to be that way. When we are sinning we are doing harm in the eyes of God. We are beloved of him, so obviously what harms us, or his creation that we are a part of is sin. Sometimes that's not so obvious. So we need a story, or history, or experience, given us by God to help figure out what is harmful.
Now, less intelligent people tend to innately seem to lack an ability to better ones self. The get rejected so they drink. Or spend all their money. Or lust after what their friend has that they don't. These people don't want to serve God or his creation. They are unaware of it. They don't know how to use their experience in creating virtue. A better world. Or at least trying to live better lives in the sense that they are respectful and grateful for life. The very ability to feel gratitude and receive grace IMO from God is in a way a blessing. We can't achieve this through sin. We must do what we are here to do. Otherwise we are going against God and sinning. In doing so, even if we are still conscious we experience a kind of death. We lack the grace to appreciate God's creation and a bright heavenly future extending beyond us.
Virtue on the other hand is the opposite of sin. It is the perfection of life. Care for that life, and that which that life is a part of and belongs to. That's why it's virtuous to help the elderly by cooking meals for them. Or to see that your buddy makes it home to his kids if there's a particularly dangerous mission to volunteer for.
Now intelligent people see this big picture thinking innately and regardless of the rules, or what it says in some silly translation of a translated book, and they do what is right because they see all this. They are successful at this. Intelligence is useless without care, but it's impossible to care without seeing the value in it.
Some people are just basic and all about instant gratification. They lack the enlightenment. They are unsuccessful and more like stones. They are the environment. In a way this is sinful because God tells us to be alive. The God force whatever you want to call it. That we should care and expend effort outside of our basic instinct to fuck and eat and kill. That doesn't really separate these people and make them Godless. They're still here, and it's the job of the virtuous to help raise these people up out of sin.
Anyway. There's my take on it. Sinners aren't anything special. What's special is virtue and those angels blessed with God's enlightenment. They move us to step out of sin and into God's universe. One he graciously shares with us through the gift of free will. The choice to follow our basic impulses and sin. Or the choice to seek something bigger than ourselves and our own personal gratification. Once we take the first step it becomes clear the gifted are very often virtuous in that they help to elevate all of us along with them.
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